Field hockey: Wilton beats Norwalk in overtime in FCIAC quarterfinals

Written by J.B. Cozens
Friday, 30 October 2009 16:42

Clare Detrick-Yee's goal 47 seconds in sudden-death overtime gave the Wilton High field hockey team a dramatic 3-2 win over Norwalk in the FCIAC quarterfinals on Friday in Wilton.

The fourth-seeded Warriors (11-3-1) advanced to Tuesday's FCIAC semifinals in New Canaan.

Wilton jumped out quickly with two goals by Julianne Tangney in the opening 2:32 of play. The first was off a penalty corner, just 1:29 into the game, off a Danielle Noonan assist, and the second came on an assist by Amy Drummond.

The fifth-seeded Bears, however, clawed back and had the better of the play for a good deal of the rest of the game.

Amanda Otera scored off a penalty corner with 5:09 left in the first half to cut the lead to 2-1 at halftime.

The second half was a battle, with the Bears outplaying Wilton for the majority of the half, finally tying the game with 19:20 left off another penalty corner, this time with Donna DePreta scoring.

The Bears had five more corners the rest of the half, with Wilton goalie Steph Fricke making saves on a couple of hard blasts from the top of the arc by Katie Schmidt, who also had another penalty corner shot bounce wide of the cage with about five minutes left.

Fricke had to kick away a dangerous ball, with Norwalk's Thenya Taiyaniles bearing down, with about four minutes left.

With two minutes left, Drummond dribbled into the top of the arc and got off a shot that deflected off a stick and then rolled just wide of the left post.

Norwalk had one more penalty corner with just under a minute left, but Gina LaRochelle's shot went wide of the right post.

The teams played seven-on-seven in the overtime period, and Detrick-Yee put her stick-handling skills to good use as she took the ball from about 35 yards out into the left arc, and then got past the last defender and slid the ball past Norwalk goalie Anya Falcone, who had come out to cut down the angle.

But LaRochelle had the goal covered and blocked the shot. The rebound went out in front and Detrick-Yee was able to knock it in among a crowd of players a few yards in front of the goal.

After defeating the Bears 4-0 just four days earlier in the regular-season finale, Friday's win left the Warriors both relieved and disappointed.

"I think everybody was a little out of focus today. We all made errors that caused the ball to be sent down in our defensive end," commented co-captain Ali Rutishauser, who said limiting the opportunities for Norwalk's dangerous penalty corner had been a main key for the Warriors. Instead, the Bears had a 9-6 edge in corners.

"We knew we had to limit their corners," said head coach Deirdre Hynes. "That's what we did on Tuesday, but we didn't do that today."

"I feel we were a little too confident after the game on Tuesday and let our guard slip," said Detrick-Yee. "This was not a good game. We are going to work out butts off and be ready for our next game."

'I think we got a little too comfortable with the lead," said Hynes, who gave Norwalk credit for its comeback, but felt the Warriors did not play their best game.

"Today's performance was not by any means the way we can play. We have a lot more potential that they showed today."